


Four Spirits Walk Into a Bar...

by DeadlyJellybaby



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (he doesn’t actually appear in this though), Avatar Zuko (Avatar), Chaos Avatar Zuko AU, Gen, MuffinLance, Team Chaos, Zuko is the Avatar of Chaos, and also fun!, and he‘s running around fighting crime dressed as the Blue Spirit, blackmailing and threatening civilians is certainly effective, just his friends - Freeform, they would do anything to save their friend, who are equally chaotic and wearing masks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22395952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyJellybaby/pseuds/DeadlyJellybaby
Summary: When the Blue Spirit gets captured, it’s up to his friends to save him. If they just knew where he was... Fortunately for them, they happen to have unfinished business with a certain bounty hunter - unfortunately for barkeeper Chao, they decide to confront her in the middle of his bar.A Chaos!Avatar Zuko spin-off oneshot
Comments: 14
Kudos: 349





	Four Spirits Walk Into a Bar...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts).



> This little scene was inspired by muffinlance’s Chaos Avatar Zuko AU on tumblr, where Zuko gets possessed by Vaatu as a kid and becomes the first Avatar of Chaos. After getting burned by his father in an attempt to exorcise the evil spirit, he flees from the Fire Nation and begins his quest to master all the elements - in the most chaotic way possible. He is soon joined by waterbending-moon-goddess Yue, the-greatest-earthbender Toph and the-closest-thing-he’ll-get-to-an-airbending-teacher-and-also-a-being-of-pure-chaos Teo. Eventually, Azula joins the team as well.  
> In response to Zuko being the Blue Spirit, the others get masks as well: Yue picks red, Azula gold, Toph’s mask is a badgermole and Teo’s is a welding mask.  
> Zuko is being chased by Iroh who thinks Vaatu is pure evil and harming his nephew.
> 
> This scene takes place after Zuko got captured. His friends can’t find him but they know someone who can and are determined to track her down and make her help them. Luckily, it’s not hard to find out which bar she is frequenting and how to get there...

Here‘s a picture of the masked spirits in all their glory:  
[Team Chaos Masks](https://i-would-like-some-tea.tumblr.com/post/189960543288/muffinlance-team-chaos-the-masked-menaces)

 _  
_~(*,*)~ _  
_

_Four spirits walk into a bar…_

Barkeeper Chao was pretty sure there was a joke that started like this. Maybe even multiple. But right now, he couldn’t think of one, which was a pity because then he could have told himself that it was suppressed laughter that made him pee himself.

Unfortunately, most of his mind was pretty preoccupied freaking out because _four spirits had just walked into his bar!!!_ Well, three of them walked, one wheeled in on a strange wheelchair-like contraption. 

Chao had never been a superstitious man and when he had first heard the tales of a band of spirits terrorising the Fire Nation, he hadn’t believed it. Anyone could buy a theatre mask and make spooky noises. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time that vigilantes had risen from within the Earth Kingdom, making desperate attempts at sabotaging the enemy or taking revenge for whatever the war took from them.

Still, now that he could look right into those masked faces, one red, one gold, a badgermole and a really creepy welding mask, he couldn’t help but feel like there was something off about them. The masks did look like they were carved from wood (or metal, in the welding mask‘s case), but at the same time, they seemed so... alive. Like they were _glaring_. There was definitely something otherworldly about them, there was no denying it.

He found himself unable to take his eyes from them as they made their way through the room until they stopped right in front of one of his regulars.

The Golden Spirit took a step forward. “You owe us one”

Never before had Chao heard four simple words spoken with such cold fury.

The woman on the receiving end of the spirit‘s wrath didn’t seem fazed, though. He had to give it to her, she had guts. Or a death wish. From what he had heard and seen of June, the famous bounty hunter, it might well be a bit of both.

He just hoped she wouldn’t get herself killed right here and now, that would be terrible for business.

The madwoman only proved his musings right, when she raised an eyebrow and, without flinching, replied: “Do I? I don’t think I can recall what for?”

Yes, there was definitely something off about these masks. He could swear he saw the Golden Spirit snarling while the Red Spirit‘s eyes narrowed.

“Want me to jog your memory?”, she? (it? they? - it sounded like a girl‘s voice but if this really was a spirit, who knew) hissed, pulling out an incredibly gaudy knife and pointing it expertly at the bounty hunter‘s throat.

The woman still didn’t seem particularly concerned, or at least, she was really good at hiding it. As she replied, she even had the audacity to actually sound a bit annoyed: “Is this about our little disagreement yesterday? I don’t see how that makes me owe you kids anything. If anyone here were to demand repayment, it would be me. After all, that blue faced friend of yours all but completely shredded Nyla’s saddle!”

  
The Badgermole Spirit’s milky eyes glinted dangerously.

“Don’t be a smartass! If Goldie here could’ve had her way you wouldn’t have gotten away with a few scrapes and a sliced Shirshu saddle and you know it damn well. We went easy on you. Now you’re going to repay us.”

“Or, if you require further motivation, we’ll just have to generously spare your life again. Red, let her go!”

As soon as the Golden Spirit had spoken, the Red Spirit, if a bit begrudgingly, complied and lowered the knife.

“You see? We keep our word. Will you agree to do our bidding now or would you like to see more samples of our generosity?”

“I believe I should mention that the entire place happens to be rigged up with explosives, set to go off any moment. Of course, you could keep that from happening if you agreed to our demands...” 

Just when Chao thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, the Welding Mask Spirit had to prove him wrong, casually threatening to blow the entire place to kingdom come.

All he could do now was hope that his not-so-favourite-anymore customer would comply. And that those horrible spirits wouldn’t just blow up the bar anyway.

For a moment, nothing happened. Never had this bar been so completely quiet - one could have heard a feather falling as no one dared to even blink. 

After what felt like an eternity, June broke the silence with a deep sigh: “You got me. What do you want?”

Chao released a breath he hadn’t even realised he was holding. Right then and there, he swore that, if he (and his bar) survived to see the end of the day, he would sell the place and retire somewhere nice, maybe in the countryside, far away from any shady businesses and vengeful outlaw spirits.

“Good choice.” The Red Spirit was still holding their knife and was currently twirling it between their fingers. “Your Shirshu can locate anyone, right? No matter where they currently are?”

The bounty hunter nodded proudly. “That’s right. As long as she has a smell sample, there’s nothing Nyla can’t find.”

Then, as an afterthought, she added: “Why, who are you looking for?”

“We’ll tell you outside. Alone.”, the Welding Mask Spirit was quick to answer, the toned glass before his eyes glinting eerily, daring her to object. 

So, of course, she did.

“Oh, I think I can guess. It’s your little friend, isn’t it?”

Their little friend? Surely, she couldn’t mean -

“So, The Blue Spirit got himself captured. And I was already beginning to wonder where he was...”

That... would explain a lot, now that he thought about it. From what he‘d heard, wherever those four were sighted, their blue masked friend was always said to be there as well.

She definitely seemed to have struck a nerve with the four spirits, as the Gold Spirit let out a threatening hiss, while the others closed in on her like vulture-wolves surrounding their prey. 

The Red Spirit, still knife-twirling dangerously, moved to her right while the Badgermole Spirit was flexing their knuckles and positioning themselves on the opposite side. The one with the welding mask wheeled around her, stopping directly behind her back.

“Out! Now!”

They began moving towards the door as one and, surrounded as she was, with the wheelchair-contraption pushing her forwards, June didn’t have a choice but to come with them.

Chaos eyes followed the group until they had all left the building. Only after the door had closed behind them, did he allow himself to relax a little.

_Deep breaths. In and out. They’re gone now. The building is still standing._

At least, he thought, now he could tell his wife he faced the Masked Spirits and lived. And tomorrow, first thing in the morning, he was going to pack his things and find himself a nice peaceful place to start over. Maybe a cozy little farm in the middle of nowhere. Or Ba Sing Se, everyone was going there nowadays and if not even the Fire Nation could breach those walls, surely he would be safe from spirits, right?

That thought lifting his mood a bit, he picked up the dishes he had been cleaning before this whole mess had started and went back to work. Looking around the room, he saw that most customers had gotten out of their stupor as well, some talking in hushed tones, others still looking like they weren’t sure if this had really just happened or if it had been a bad dream.

A small group of men, all of them professional bounty hunters and apparently quicker to recover from their shock than others, had gotten up and were now quietly sneaking towards the backdoor. 

Only for the stone floor to open up and swallow them up to their necks.

“Don’t even try following us!”, boomed the demonic voice from outside, followed by truly otherworldly and evil cackling.

Maybe this was all a bad joke. Maybe he just hadn’t found the punchline yet.

 _Maybe I should have picked the brown pants for today_ , he thought, wishing the ground would swallow him as well.

***


End file.
